Articles

WHAT:  On May 4, 2010, oral argument will be held at the California Supreme Court, in Coral Construction v. San Francisco.  Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys represent contractors who are challenging San Francisco's 2003 public contracting ordinance, as a violation of Proposition 209 (Article I, Section 31, of the California Consti ...

We all know that the Fifth Amendment protects our right to use and enjoy our property. But, that doesn’t stop government regulators from trying to find innovative ways to get around the Fifth Amendment. In recent years land use planners have begun experimenting with “transferable development rights” as a way to avoid liability un ...

Author: Ralph W. Kasarda In an earlier post on the Liberty Blog, I described how the Ninth Circuit had ordered the parties in Farrakhan v. Gregoire to submit briefs setting forth their respective positions on whether the case should be reheard.  After considering those briefs, the Ninth Circuit has in fact ordere ...

Author: Timothy Sandefur Randy Barnett has an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal about Congress' effort to change its story on where it gets the power to force us to buy health insurance. Excerpt: Since this Commerce Clause language was first proposed in the Senate last December, Democratic legislators and law professors alike breezil ...

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Earlier this week, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced that it was filing a petition to delist the Wisconsin subpopulation of the Western Great Lakes distinct population segment (DPS) of gray wolf from the protections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  The petition argues that the w ...

Author: Brian T. Hodges Earlier today, Washington’s Supreme Court granted review of a petition asking whether the Legislature can enact a bill that would operate retroactively to wipe out several years of final judicial decisions. Last year, Pacific Legal Foundation successfully argued that Kitsap County, Wash. failed to comply with the ...

Author: Joshua Thompson In the coming weeks some of the PLF attorneys are going to blog on some books that we recommend for the summer.  While some of the books may be more appropriate for the those interested in legal issues, I hope that a lot of the books will also be appropriate for the … ...

Author: Timothy Sandefur The journal Reason Papers has published my review of Robert Levy and William Mellor's book, The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom. … ...

Author: Timothy Sandefur On Saturday, I'll be speaking at the meeting of Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform, California's number one resource for opposing the abuse of eminent domain. If you want to learn more about the abuse of eminent domain in California and what you can do to protect yourself and your neighbors, yo ...